WBA light heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol doesn't care that the bookies see him as the underdog in his upcoming title defense with the Mexican superstar Saul "Canelo" Alvarez. Their fight will take place on May 7 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
“I always wanted to learn how to fight and defend myself. I watched a lot of Jackie Chan movies when I was a kid and always wanted to learn how to fight like him. My father took me to a boxing gym where I fell in love with boxing,” Bivol told The Sun.
“Initially, my cherished dream was to go to the Olympic Games and win a gold medal, but my career took a different path. I became a professional boxer before I went to the Olympics, but I always wanted to reach and rise to the top of the pros. It’s important for me to just know that I did everything I could in sports and gave everything to reach the highest peaks.”
Canelo, a four-weight world champion, undefeated since 2013, is well on his way to victory after he became the undisputed super middleweight champion in his last fight with a knockout of Caleb Plant.
“Firstly, Canelo has already had close fights and he has been losing. Every boxer has certain qualities and he makes mistakes. My goal is to capitalize on these mistakes in combat. I hope everyone will watch this fight,” Bivol said.
“I may not be the strongest or the fastest, but I have a full set of boxing qualities that I use in this fight. My kit is what makes me who I am, and this skill set is what I'm going to fight with on May 7th. It is very important to be extremely focused and collected when you are fighting someone of the highest caliber,” Bivol added.
